Cricket: ‘Australia will pose a huge challenge’

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s interim coach for the home series against Australia Rumesh Ratnayake has said that he is wary of the threat posed by the former world champions. “Taking on Australia is a huge challenge,” said Ratnayake. “They are like a wounded tiger after losing the Ashes and the World Cup and they will be hungry. We need to be twice as hungry as they are, adopt smart options and play the kind of cricket we are recognised for. The expectations from our team will be high because the team has started to win. Consistency is something we need to work on. We lacked that in England.” Ratnayake said the Sri Lanka team was going through a period of rebuilding with the main focus being the next World Cup in 2015. “We need to have small leaderships in the team. Everybody should take on leadership roles if we are to become a winning unit.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2011.